Earlier this week, Bryan Fuller gave Hannibal fans an early look at the show’s first episode of the Red Dragon arc, featuring Richard Armitage as the Tooth Fairy/Red Dragon, at a Film Independent screening in Los Angeles. Here’s what we learned.
Expect to see a lot of Armitage as his character Francis Dolarhyde gradually becomes the Red Dragon. We mean that literally: Armitage is often stripped down to his skivvies or completely naked in scenes where he sports an artful full-body tattoo. Fuller said “You’re welcome” to the audience of frenzied fans and shared a story about how Armitage had to shoot a night scene in freezing-cold Toronto February weather covered in black blood — not exactly Hollywood glamour. When a retake was required, Armitage told Fuller, “You can matte my face onto a stand-in.”
The overwhelming enthusiasm from the audience led to the inevitable question of what’s next for the show, which has yet to find a new home. Fuller didn’t answer the question, saying only, “Things change dramatically at the end of this season. The fourth season was intended to catapult off the abrupt changes at the end of this season. Mads and Hugh are willing to come back whenever and do these characters again. It was a wonderful collaboration. They felt they had a home and were welcome as storytellers, which I want everybody I work with to feel.”
